This blog is a series of posts by Allan Wright, owner of Zephyr Adventures. Allan will post once every few weeks or months about his travels and Zephyr's tours. Zephyr Adventures runs inline skating, wine, trekking, self-guided, and family vacations on four continents. To be emailed each time Allan posts a new entry, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zephyrtours.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Snowboarding for Adults

I started snowboarding in 1994. I had learned to ski while in high school but hadn't skied in years. When invited to a weekend getaway at a resort in Austria (I was living in Europe at the time), I decided to try snowboarding rather than take up skiing again. I have never gone back to downhill skiing since.

"I used to ski but haven't skied once since taking up snowboarding." That is a pretty powerful statement and one I hear a lot from those who snowboard. In some ways, snowboarding is a bit of an exclusive club: those who enter love the entertainment while those who don't, don't know what they are missing.

I find snowboarding to be a bit like inline skating, too. Those who inline skate regularly are fairly fanatic about the sport because it is fun and a good workout. Most importantly, I think, is that inline skating is a fluid, aesthetic motion that is pleasing to us humans. Snowboarding, with its wide arcing turns, is the same. It is a great sport and one I believe many people would enjoy, given the opportunity to learn.

That is one reason we at Zephyr Adventures have created Zephyr Camp Snowboard. Following in the footsteps of Camp Rollerblade, our snowboard camps are two-day weekends, designed for adults, and created for beginners.

We have joined forces with seven resorts across America in 2007 to offer these weekend camps in February and March. While kids are welcome if accompanied by a participating adult, the focus of Zephyr Camp Snowboard is on adults themselves. We want you to feel comfortable learning in a safe environment with other adult beginners.

The URL we chose for our snowboard camps is www.YouCanSnowboard.com. When I sent this to a friend the other day, this 40-something investment banker emailed back and said he would wait until we created www.NoICannot.com. While I found that humorous, I hope you don't think the same way. I believe we are only as old as we feel and, more importantly, would probably age more slowly if we just acted a little younger at times.

You can snowboard and we would like to help you learn.

(By the way, the top photo is not of me. It is provided by one of our participating resorts, Hunter Mountain near NYC. The bottom photo is of Erin, who participated in our Winter Camp a few years ago and learned to snowboard.)

About the Author

Allan Wright is the president of Zephyr Adventures and has been creating active vacations since 1997. Zephyr runs trekking, skating, wine, family, and self-guided trips around the world. Allan frequently travels the world, both running Zephyr's trips and researching locations for new adventures.